Spain’s ghost airport: The €1BILLION transport hub closed after just three years

Ciudad Real Central Airport, previously known as Don Quijote Airport and South Madrid Airport, is an international airport south of Ciudad Real in Spain. Located over 200 km from the centre of Madrid and next to the A-41 motorway. Wikipedia

It was the billion euro airport designed to cater for Spain’s booming economy – serving both city and coast via a state-of-the-art high speed rail link.

Projected to take the overflow from Madrid’s Barajas airport, some 150 miles to the north, Ciudad Real’s flagship transport hub was to be a symbol of modern Spain’s affluence.

But sadly it has proved to be one of a number of many white elephants for the nation, shutting down in April after just three years of operation.

Derelict: Ciudad Real’s Airport was supposed to be a symbol of modern Spain, but is now being left to rack and ruin

Empty: Bridges stand half finished and the control tower looms over a vacant landing strip

Haunting: The terminal, where 5 million passengers should be passing through each year, is eerily empty

For many months the only flights were those of private jets, reportedly including Prince Harry on his way to a boar hunt on land nearby owned by the Duke of Westminster.

And now, the 28,000 sq ft terminal lies empty, where 5million passengers should have been waiting to be whisked away each year.

Built in 2008, it opened fully in 2009 at a total private cost of €1.1billion, and was intended to serve both Madrid and the Andaluscian coast, each accessible by train in 50 minutes.

The Socialist regional government spent millions propping up the venue, promoting the project with advertising campaigns and approving a €140million guarantee to keep it afloat.

Contrast: The high speed train, which was supposed to serve the airport, whizzes by as the airport stands redundant

Work to do: The airport is now sitting as a testament to the boom years of Spain

Rubbish: The area around the airport has now becoming a dumping ground for junk

But, last October, it saw its final commercial flight, by Vueling. The airport remained open for another six months, the staff still being paid to deal with a handful of private arrivals.

It finally closed in April, but even though it is now closed to air traffic, maintenance tasks still have to be carried out.

The 4,000 metre runway has to be continually painted with yellow crosses, so pilots flying over the airport will know they cannot land there.

Security: Even though the airport is shut, regular maintenance work still has to be carried out

Road to nowhere: The 4,000 metre runway is now closed to all air traffic

Signs: It may say that the airport is under construction, but these eery pictures show it is anything but

The ghost airport is just to be found across the country. Even worse is Castellon’s, where no plane had ever landed or taken off before it was shut down.

The peninsula is also littered with ‘ghost towns’ – where empty apartment blocks, streets and weed-filled gardens stand where bustling communities were supposed to move.

Entire housing estates built during the country’s boom years have been left abandoned, bricked up and now on sale for almost half their original price.

One such settlement is Sesena, dubbed the Manhattan of Madrid for its towering apartments and proximity to the capital, where 30,000 people were due to live.

Rubble: The control tower stands proudly above the waste

Similar: Ciudad Real is a ghost airport, whereas Sesena, outside Madrid, is a ghost town

Stopped: Of the 13,000 homes due to be built in Sesena, only 5,100 were completed

Of the 13,000 homes due to be built, only 5,100 were completed – most of them now uninhabited and the Spaniards who bought them as investments now competing to offload them for huge losses.

Spain’s housing market crash and economic implosion have turned what was supposed to become a vibrant suburban paradise for young Spanish couples and their children into one of the most visible monuments of the country’s boom gone bust.

Such modern-day ghost towns have become a familiar part of the Spanish landscape, abandoned shells left to slowly decay.

The number of foreclosure proceedings skyrocketed during the economic crisis.

Empty: The swimming pool lies unused as there are simply no residents there to take advantage of it

Work in progress: No-one knows when the building work will begin again